This lesson is based on the Talk from Elder L. Tom Perry "Increasing Our Effectiveness in Home Teaching"

D&C 20
Focus on Versus: 51, 53-55, 59

To the Home Teacher, Elder L. Tom Perry wanted us to focus on three fundamental areas of Home Teaching:
1.) You the Home Teacher (Be intimately Acquainted)
2.) Knowledge of what to teach
3.) Knowledge of how to teach

Each pair of home teachers should become intimately acquainted with every child, youth, and adult in the family to whom they are assigned, and have in them the same personal interest they have in members of their own families. When this is accomplished, it will be a long step towards the accomplishment of our objective. It will be a tremendous lift to the Church to just get the home teachers to become so acquainted.

“As each family is different from one another, so each individual in the family differs from others. Methods and messages should vary according to each individual and his problems and needs. How different will be the performance of the home teacher acting under this concept from that of the so-called teacher who once called at my home on a cold night just before Christmas. Hat in hand, which he refused to let me hang up, he shifted nervously when I asked him to sit down and give us his message. ‘Well, I’ll tell you, Brother Romney,’ he responded, ‘it’s cold outside and I left my car engine running so it wouldn’t stop. I just stopped in so I could tell the bishop I have made my calls.’

“To perform fully our duty as a home teacher, we should be continually aware of the attitudes, the activities and interests, the problems, the employment, the health, the happiness, the plans and purposes, the physical, temporal, and spiritual needs and circumstances of everyone—of every child, every youth, and every adult in the homes and families who have been placed in our trust and care as a bearer of the priesthood, and as a representative of the bishop.

Home teachers should have a feeling of urgency about the importance of knowing and living the gospel. Our lives are fleeting, and we must live the gospel while we are here. There is no other way to check the downward trend of society. Even though there may not be enough people who accept and comply with the principles of the gospel to save the nations, still thousands and millions of individuals will be saved, if they live the gospel. Hence, the urgency. This we must get over to the people. It isn’t enough to merely engage in some activities in the Church. We must have a knowledge of the gospel and dedicate our lives to living it. This we must teach. It is therefore the home teacher’s duty to teach that Jesus Christ is the Redeemer of the world. That’s the thing that counts, and that Joseph Smith and his successors are Prophets of God, and that the gospel has been restored, and to prepare our Father in heaven’s children to receive the sacred ordinances of the gospel.

This brings us to a consideration of the method by which we can get the saints to accept and profit by what the Church offers for their benefit by way of knowledge and training in the gospel. If we may take some language from the Doctrine and Covenants and apply it to this purpose, the home teachers should ‘visit the house of each member’ and ‘teach, expound,’ and exhort each to pray vocally and in secret; to attend to all family duties and ‘watch over the Church always, and be with and strengthen them’—and this means always—however, and whenever, and with whatever may be necessary. (See D&C 20:51, 50, 53.)

“Home teaching is a divine service, a divine call. It is our duty as home teachers to carry the divine spirit into every home and heart. To love the work and do our best will bring unbounded peace, joy and satisfaction to a noble, dedicated teacher of God’s children.”

We must recognize individual differences. No two families assigned are just alike. There are, of course, two broad categories which need consideration to have effective home teachers. The first is the active family, the second is the inactive family. The approach to each of these categories must be planned, organized, and executed differently.

In the home teaching program the line of communication to members goes from the bishop to the priesthood leader to the home teacher, and then to the family. Thus, the home teacher becomes the representative of the bishop to the member. This is the mainline channel of communication. We would encourage stake presidencies and bishops to use this channel to send messages from the leadership to the members. The more information and direction the home teacher receives, the more effective will be his visit. Do not be reluctant to encourage priesthood leaders to send messages and instructions to the members through the home teaching line. This will also help families to turn to their home teachers as a source of reliable information, which will help to strengthen their relationship.

In a manual of instruction for the priesthood home teachers published in 1967, the role of the family was emphasized. It stated, “A family is usually headed by a father who is often a member of some priesthood group. He, with his wife, has the responsibility to teach the Gospel to the children of the family and, through the quorum, to function as a priesthood holder.” 1 The correlation of family activities may be implemented by the father and mother, supported and sustained by the priesthood group.

Home teachers have an obligation and responsibility to assist parents in the teaching of their families. It was never intended to replace that responsibility. Elder Harold B. Lee, in addressing this subject, said: “The priesthood is to teach the family, or the parents, what their responsibility is with respect to their children. ‘… and be with and strengthen them.’ (D&C 20:53.)

“Priesthood bearers are to preach, teach, and expound the gospel and to see that there is no iniquity, hardness with each other, lying, backbiting. In short, priesthood bearers are to see that all members do their duty. That is the priesthood assignment.

“A letter from the First Presidency gave us the key to the whole correlation program in this one paragraph: ‘The home is the basis of the righteous life. No other instrumentality can take its place nor fulfill its essential functions.’” 2

It should be obvious that a very close relationship must exist between the home teacher and the head of the household. In addition to carrying messages from the stake and ward leadership, the home teacher is to consult with the father to determine how he can support the parents in the training of their children.